The present invention relates to a coin processing apparatus used in an apparatus such as an automatic vending machine, money changing machine or service machine, that sorts and stores inserted coins according to denomination, and that pays out the sorted and stored coins as change, and more particularly, to an improvement regarding a coin assorter that can determine whether inserted coins are genuine or not and can sort genuine coins according to denomination.
Apparatus such as an automatic vending machine, money changing machine or service machine currently in use has been provided with a coin processing apparatus that sorts and stores inserted coins according to denomination and pays out the sorted and stored coins as change.
This coin processing apparatus generally comprises four components:
a housing constituting the apparatus main body of the coin processing apparatus;
a coin assorter, located at the top of this housing, that determines whether inserted coins are genuine or false and sorts the genuine coins according to denomination;
a coin storage unit, located inside the housing and below the coin assorter, that comprises a plurality of coin tubes that accumulate and store according to denomination genuine coins that were sorted by denomination; and
a coin payout unit, located inside the housing and below the coin storage unit, that pays as change the genuine coins stored inside the coin storage unit.
Meanwhile, in an automatic vending machine in which is installed a coin processing apparatus having the above construction, where a product purchaser terminates the product purchase for some reason after inserting the coins that were to pay for the intended product and wants the coins to be returned, the purchaser operates a coin return lever located on the automatic vending machine.
When this is done, because an amount of coins equal to the amount of money inserted is returned to the coin return outlet, the product purchaser who desires the return of the inserted coins can collect the coins that were returned to the coin return outlet.
Incidentally, in the generally-used coin processing apparatus described above, this coin return processing is based on the operation of a coin return lever, and is carried out through payment by the coin payout unit of coins equal in amount to the coins inserted, such payment being made from the coin storage unit to the coin return outlet.
In other words, in the generally-used coin processing apparatus, where coin return processing is carried out, the coins paid out to the coin return outlet are not the same coins that were inserted by the product purchaser. Instead, coins equal in amount to the coins inserted are paid out to the coin return outlet from among the genuine coins previously stored in the coin storage unit.
In this way, in the conventional coin processing apparatus, where inserted coins are to be returned, the coins that were actually inserted are not paid out, and instead coins equal in amount to the coins inserted are paid out to the coin return outlet from among the genuine coins previously stored in the coin storage unit. Therefore, if someone inserts into the coin processing apparatus counterfeit coins (false coin) that are realistic enough to be deemed genuine by the coin assorter and then operates the coin return lever without purchasing a product, genuine coins in an amount equal to the amount inserted are paid out even though the coins inserted were counterfeit, and as a result, the so-called coin switching phenomenon occurs.
In order to prevent such coin switching, a so-called same-coin return-type coin processing apparatus has been proposed in the conventional art, such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-288480, in which a coin assorter installed in the apparatus includes a coin retaining lever located at the downstream end of each individual coin route to which are connected a plurality of denomination distributing levers that sort by denomination coins that are determined to be genuine, i.e., at the downstream end of each coin route into which coins are ultimately sorted and guided by denomination. When inserted coins are temporarily retained inside the coin routes by the coin retaining levers and if the coin return lever is operated without a product being purchased, the hold on the inserted coins being retained temporarily in the coin routes by the coin retaining levers is cancelled, and the inserted coins themselves are paid out to the coin return outlet.
According to the same-coin return-type coin processing apparatus with a coin assorter disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-288480, where the coin return lever is operated and coins are to be returned, because the coins that were actually inserted are paid out, even where counterfeit coins (false coin) that are realistic enough to be deemed genuine by the coin assorter are inserted, the inserted coins (false coin) themselves are paid out to the coin return outlet. As a result the occurrence of the coin switching phenomenon is eliminated to the maximum possible extent.
In addition to the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-288480, the conventional art also includes a same-coin return-type coin processing apparatus that includes a coin assorter wherein, when a plurality of high-value coins (a 500-yen coin and a 100-yen coin, for example) are retained temporarily in their coin routes in accordance with the length thereof and the return lever is operated without a product purchase, the temporarily retained multiple coins are returned as a group to the coin return outlet.
However, the conventional coin assorters used in the same-coin return-type coin processing apparatuses described above entail the problem that, due to the short length of the coin routes to which the coin retaining levers for temporarily retaining inserted coins are connected, the number of coins that can be retained temporarily is small, and as a result, the automatic vending machine cannot handle more costly products that require a large number of coins, thereby reducing the variety of products that can be offered.
With the foregoing in view, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin assorter that can increase the number of inserted coins that can be temporarily retained and prevent to the maximum possible extent the occurrence of the coin switching phenomenon.
In order to achieve the above object, in the coin assorter of the present invention, a particular coin route to which said coin retaining means is provided is curved substantially in an S-shape upstream from said coin retaining means, whereby the length of said respective coin routes to which said coin retaining means is provided is set to be long, so that a large number of coins can be temporarily retained therein.